Encountering Jesus

Who is Jesus?: Encountering Jesus

Key Passage(s): John 4 Audience/Occasion: Connect Church (9/4/22) Purpose: I am preaching this message to invite people to encounter Jesus, believe in Jesus, and invite others to experience the same. Big Idea: When it comes to Jesus, we want to see, but he wants us to believe. Creative Element(s): Props: Connect Card, Communion Resources: Thoughts for next time:

Just over 30 min. A lot of text at times—felt hard to keep people engaged (some yawns towards the end)

People thought I handled a of text well though

INTRODUCTION

Hey Connect, my name is Chris, and I’m one of the pastors on our team.

I’m so glad you’re with us today!

(Raise hand) Who wants to see God show up in their life?… I sure do!…

It’s been an expensive year for our family as:

Abigail was born in March. I sprained my shoulder during softball batting practice and ended up needing a shoulder procedure not covered by insurrance. Not to mention other expenses that have blindsided us this year. We’d love to see God provide financially… As some of you know, a year and a half ago, my father-in-law got diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called myasthenia gravis (MG).

This summer his health has really taken a turn for the worse—the MG has significantly limited his ability to see, talk, and eat—it is a cruel disease to watch and even worse to experience… Our family would LOVE to see God show up and heal him!… I want to see God show up in my life in some very real, very physical ways right now…

How about you?… (Raise hand) Do you want to see God show up in your life?…

Maybe you too need God to provide or God to heal… Or maybe you need God to show up in some other way…

We all have times in life, where we need to see God show up in a very tangible, a very physical ways. If you want God to show up in your life, if you NEED God to show up in your life, my prayer is that you’ll encounter Jesus today.

Because as we’ll see from two accounts today, an encounter with Jesus changes everything!… If you have a Bible with you, please turn with me to John 4 to follow along.

Or you can follow along as well as take notes in our free church app. We’re slowly making our way through the Gospel of John as we answer this very important, yet controversial question, “Who is Jesus?”

We know what our parents, friends, and professors think about Jesus. But the eternal implication of OUR OWN answer to this question is too significant for us to settle on what others think…

It really is the difference between heaven and hell!… Which is why we HAVE TO answer this question ourselves, and to do so wisely, we are looking to Scripture—specifically John’s eyewitness account of Jesus’ life & ministry as well as his death & resurrection. We’ve already learned a lot about who Jesus is and how a relationship with him impacts our life.

If you missed any of the messages, I encourage you to catch up either on the app.

If you’ve ever thought, “Jesus may be for them, but he’s not for me,” listen up because both of the people Jesus encountered in our passage today would have likely thought the same thing—that is until they encountered Jesus for themselves…

And my prayer is that you will encounter Jesus today like they encountered Jesus back then. In fact, why don’t we pray that we encounter Jesus now as we prepare to read his Word together…

PRAY

Jesus had been teaching and ministering in Judea, where ministry was picking up steam as more and more people believed in him and began following him. The Pharisees (the religious leaders of the day) were starting to take notice, so Jesus decided to head back up north to Galilee where he grew up.

:) When Jews typically made such a trek, they would skirt Samaria even though it took longer because they thought the Samaritans would give them cooties…

No, but the Jews did hate Samaritans and wouldn’t be caught dead with them!… With Jesus though, you got to get used to different…

While Jesus didn’t have to go through Samaria geographically, he had to go through Samaria spiritually. John recorded how it all went down in John 4:4-26—it’s a bit of a longer passage, but here’s the first scene of an unlikely person’s encounter with Jesus…

BODY

John 4:4-26

4 Now he [Jesus] had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

She was baffled by how culturally taboo this was—a Jewish man talking with her Samaritan woman!… 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” 19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, [:) I don’t recommend talking to women like this today as it will definitely be interpreted differently…] “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” 25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” Mic drop!… But Jesus didn’t start with the mic drop, he started with (right) his physical need to reveal (left) her much deeper spiritual need.

It’s mid-day, and Jesus had been traveling, so sure he may have been thirsty—but he knew she was definitely thirsty… She’s concerned with the outward appearance—he (a Jewish man) was asking her (a Samaritan woman) for a drink. But outward appearances are a non-issue for Jesus, so he got to the heart of the matter—this interaction is not really about the drink she can offer him, but about the living water he wants to offer her…

(Move right) But she doesn’t get it—she’s stuck in the physical…

She’s skeptical Jesus can actually help her—he’s offering her ‘living water’ but doesn’t even have a bucket to draw water… But Jesus wouldn’t drop it, so she played along, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water” (v. 15b).

Very practically, it’s noon in the middle east—it’s HOT!… Which is why the other women had gone to draw water in the cool of the morning, but not her…

She was there in the heat of the day not only because she had a physical thirst to be quenched but because she had a much deeper thirst that was yet to be quenched… And Jesus went there… V. 16, “He told her, ‘Go, call you husband and come back.’” Jesus knew she didn’t have A husband—she had had FIVE husbands, and the guy she was with now wasn’t even her husband!…

Jesus saw her in her situation:

He knew she was haunted by her past… He knew she was the talk of the town, so she’d come alone in the heat of the day to avoid the judgmental looks and whispering of the other women… Jesus knew she longed to be KNOWN and ACCEPTED, but all she felt was shame and rejection…

(Move right) Feeling exposed, she changed the topic to the age old debate between Jews and Samaritans about the proper location to worship God.

For the Jews it was the temple in Jerusalem, for the Samaritans it was the temple they built on Mount Gerizim. Again she’s concerned with the physical!…

(Move left) Jesus wasn’t interested in this meaningless debate about physical location when all that truly matters is the spiritual condition of one’s heart in worship.

V. 24, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (Center) When woman made one last ditch effort to skirt the issue, and it’s then that Jesus seized the opportunity to open her eyes to the reality of who he is…

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” (Mic drop)

With the woman at the well, Jesus used a (right) physical need as the door to (left) spiritual awakening—and he can do the same for you!…

She longed to be loved—fully known and fully accepted—but six relationships later, all she was was rejected and full of shame… It was not until she met Jesus, who fully knew her and FULLY ACCEPTED her in the midst of her mess, that she found what she was searching for—living water that quenches an eternal thirst… You may be running from relational hurt yourself…

Or maybe it’s a financial mishap that’s hanging over your head… Or maybe it’s a hobby that became a habit and is now an addiction… I don’t know what you’re running from, but let me tell you who you should run to!…

Jesus sees you. Jesus knows you. And Jesus accepts you!

Jesus accepts you just as you are, and he loves you too much to let you stay that way!…

Could your need for God to show up in your life right now be the open door for an encounter with Jesus?…

Just as Jesus revealed he is the long awaited Messiah to the Samaritan woman, his disciples returned from town with lunch, and she ran to town as fast as she could to tell others of her encounter with Jesus.

Scene 2 unfolded this way—vv. 27-38… John 4:27-38

27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” Finding Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman was not what the disciples were expecting—but through it they were just starting to learn who Jesus is for and what he’s about.

He’s for marginalized, the outcast, the one with a past—sinners…

People like you and me… Like the woman, the disciples were initially focused on the physical—offering Jesus food to eat, but Jesus was far more concerned with the spiritual awakening that was about to take place.

When the disciples arrived, the woman bolted—not because more Jews were on the scene but because she encountered Jesus, and she had to let others know.

In her haste to invite her friends, family, and neighbors to ‘come and see’ Jesus for themselves, she left her jar of water—that physical need now seemed small in comparison with the spiritual need Jesus met!…

Reading this, I’m convicted…

Here’s a woman who encountered Jesus and dropped what she was doing to tell everyone she knew about it. And yet, I’ve been following Jesus for years but I’m embarrasses to say… I lack this level of urgency in my inviting others to ‘come and see’ Jesus… That’s got to change!… I need to put my phone down and instead talk with the person next to me in line… I need to pause my workout and talk with the person at the gym… I need to arrive late because I helped the person on the side of the road…

Why is it that often those who recently have come to Jesus are more urgent about telling others about Jesus than those of us who have been following Jesus for a while?…

That’s got to change!…

Jesus didn’t even have to tell the woman to invite others to ‘come and see’—she couldn’t help but share Jesus. Yet the disciples needed Jesus to open their eyes to the spiritual harvest—as those the woman told made their way toward them…

John records scene 3 as follows—vv. 39-42… John 4:39-42

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” The people came and saw Jesus because of the woman’s invitation—and some believed.

But MANY MORE believed in Jesus because of their own encounter—their own experience—with Jesus…

After spending couple of days in Sychar with the Samaritans, Jesus and his disciples eventually arrived in Galilee where Jesus was met by another unlikely person.

Picking up in vv. 46-54… John 4:46-54

46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. 48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” 49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.” 53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed. 54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee. Unlike the woman at the well who initially had no idea who Jesus was, the royal official had heard talk of the signs and wonders Jesus performed. And yet like the Samaritan woman, the royal official was an unlikely candidate for Jesus to reveal himself to because he was a Roman official—a.k.a. the enemy and oppressor of the Jews…

But political barriers meant as little to Jesus as social and cultural barriers, which was really good news for this guy because his son was on his death bed, and he was desperate for a miracle!…

He asked Jesus to physically come and heal his son, but Jesus didn’t come…

Instead John records, (v. 50) “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. The official wanted Jesus to come, but Jesus told him to go… Being in the military, this guy was used to receiving and following orders, so he “took Jesus at he word and departed.”

His faith was demonstrated through his obedience. And at the same time Jesus, demonstrated that he has the spiritual power to physically heal when he is not physically present…

What would it look like for us to take Jesus at his word?… What would it look like for our faith to to have feet—to go and do what Jesus tells us?…

After all, James (the half-brother of Jesus), clearly taught, “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:17). You’ve come to Jesus with your need…

Now, what would it look like for you to take him at his word?… Now, what do you need to do in faith while trusting him to do what only he can do?… This isn’t some recipe or “if this then that” formula to get God to show up as you want.

Because God is not Santa or a gene in a bottle… Our God is better than that! As evidenced by Jesus…

Our God is good—he sees us in our situation, knows our hurt, accepts us, and loves us through it. Our God is gracious—meaning he pours out his favor even when we don’t do it, even when we don’t deserve it. Our God is glorious—when he moves, it is undeniable.

When he moves, all we can do is believe—just like the royal official and his family… (v. 53)

Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed. When Jesus healed the official’s son in a moment from a distance, the official connected the dots and believed in Jesus—he and his whole household! When God shows up in your life, even when it doesn’t look like what you expected, believe and share it with others—giving God the glory he deserves!

CONCLUSION

From these two stories, we learn that:

Sometimes our physical needs are the open door Jesus uses to meet our deeper and greater spiritual need—making the physical need less relevant… Sometimes our physical needs are the open door Jesus uses to inspire belief in us and others. Whether or not God shows up in our life like we want, what we can be sure of is this… Our physical needs present an opportunity for a spiritual encounter.

But may we not be so wrapped up in the physical that we miss the spiritual. Because… When it comes to Jesus, we want to see, but he wants us to believe.

And it’s encountering Jesus that leads to believing in Jesus and to inviting others to Jesus.

I think of Alex and Morgan Goldstein who have experienced Jesus themselves and are willing to make personal sacrifices to help others know him too…

A couple weeks ago, Morgan was on her way to get her nails done when she felt the Holy Spirit prompt her to instead go visit her friend Hannah and pray for her as she had recently had knee surgery. Alex has gotten to know Gabriel who is a trainer here at the rec. center.

Gabriel is an evangelistic Muslim, and Alex offered to read the Koran if he’d read The Case for Christ. Connecting with Gabriel to talk about it was tough, so Alex has been doing training sessions with him and talking about faith with him between sets instead!…

God uses unlikely heroes in his unfolding story:

He used a woman who was the talk of the town to tell the town about Jesus. He used the belief of a royal official to inspire his whole household to believe in Jesus. He’s using the Goldsteins to love the One in front of them as God through Jesus loves them. How will he use you?!…

Your story of encountering Jesus is meaningful, and when you share your story it’s powerful.

Let’s pray…

PRAY

(Keys begin to play)

RESPONSE TIME

Take a moment and reflect on how God is speaking to you today.

Maybe you need God to show up in your life right now—if so we’d love to pray for you, and in addition to praying that God will show up, we’re going to pray that God shows himself to you in it as well.

Let us know how we can pray for you through the app. Is today the day you are going to surrender to Jesus and decide to follow him?

If so let us know you’re deciding to follow Jesus on your Connect Card and we’ll reach out to encourage you this week.

In a moment, we will take Communion together to remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

As you prepare your heart, you can grab the pre-packaged Communion cup from the bucket on your row, and there is a gluten free option available in the back. Take a moment now to reflect…

CLOSING

It was great worshiping with you all today! (Ask people to serve in Kids Ministry—growing and we need the Kids Team to grow as more kids participate—Connect Card or talk with Hannah) (Let’s Connect right now—we’re going to take this pipe and drape down; just head out to the patio right here and Tyler will pray for the meal and we have a carnival setup including a dunk tank) On your way out, you can drop your Connect Card in the box in the hall—and be sure to mark ‘New to Connect’ so we can make a $10 donation on your behalf to a local nonprofit. We’ll see you next week! And until then, remember…

Whoever follows Jesus finds life!… (wave)